Consumers of television (TV) program content now have a level of control over when, where, and how they will consume their programming of choice that was simply unavailable to previous generations of TV viewers. For example, the ever-increasing variety of program content available online has enabled consumers to selectively access TV program content using a personal computer (PC), such as a laptop or tablet computer, rather than through use of a traditional TV set when at home, or through use of a mobile communication device while traveling or otherwise away from home.
The increased viewing options for consumers of TV program content have created significant challenges for content providers attempting to assure viewer loyalty while ensuring digital rights compliance. For example, distribution rights covering delivery of program content over a particular distribution channel, such as a linear TV broadcast, may not cover digital distribution of the same program content over the Internet. However, conventional approaches to converting a linear TV content feed into a digital content stream for which digital distribution rights are in place are typically burdensome, costly, and often require human involvement or direction. Consequently, there is a need in the art for a solution enabling the substantially automated curation of digitally rights cleared content for distribution over the Internet.